Life, Recipes + Food

By kilax, October 22, 2018 6:40 am

We had a fun weekend with Anne and Terry! It was so nice of them to make the long trek (almost seven hours) from Columbus to see us! Okay, really to go to El Famous. Then spend some time with us, since we happen to live nearby.

(They actually came out here to spread some of their dog Heidi’s ashes at her favorite preserve from when they all lived here, but it’s light-hearted to joke about them coming just to eat at El Famous, right?)

FRIDAY!

We met at El Famous on Friday night, hence all the jokes about them driving so far just to eat there. We offered to let them spend the night since we ate around 8:00 pm, and it seemed cruel to make them drive back over night. Ha ha ha, we so funny.

We went back to the house, and stayed up late chatting! (Note: late for me is anytime after 10:00 pm… but this “late” was past midnight!)

SATURDAY!

Anne brought us a delicious and beautiful sourdough loaf that she made! We had some of that with breakfast, along with hashbrowns, vegan sausage, and eggs. Totally NOT things that bother your stomach when you take a fitness boxing class after eating them muah ha ha.

While Anne and I were at Fitness Boxing, Steven and Terry went to Milwaukee to get donuts from, you guessed it, Holey Moley, and to get coffee from Hawthorne Coffee Roasters. Even though I had Holey Moley donuts two weekends ago, and um, donuts last weekend, I was STILL excited to have a donut when I got home from boxing. I was thinking about it while I was teaching.

We stopped and got Starbucks on the way home, and remembered to take a photo. Phew!

THEN WE GOT HOME AND THE BOYS WERE STILL IN MILWAUKEE WITH OUR DONUTS.

Ha ha ha. We were glad they were having fun together. Just also excited to eat our donuts!!!

I made our fettucine alfredo recipe for lunch (and messed it up, again, sigh – I suck in the kitchen) and we had donuts as dessert.

Then we decided to do a fire, and take some cutesy not-posed-at-all photos, and watch Tales of Halloween (very gory), and drink a little wine to get in the mood for the haunted house.

When Anne and Terry visited last February, we went to an escape room that is run by the guy who does the Dungeon of Doom in our town. I suggested to Anne and Terry that they come back in October for the Dungeon of Doom, and when Anne visited in August, I suggested it again.

Of course, all week, when people asked what we were doing with our guests this weekend, I kept saying “They want to go to the Dungeon of Doom! I don’t know why, it looks so scary!!!” Anne, Terry, and Steven reminded me it was MY idea. Oops. Ha ha ha.

Just looking at the website freaked me out! I was worried it would scare me so much I’d have nightmares, or pee my pants (while there). Ha. Ha ha. Eek.

I invited Jen and Troy, thinking the more people we had, the less scary it would be.

The Dungeon of Doom opened at 6:00 and I read there could be long lines so we got there around 5:15… and were the second group in line… and it was cold and really windy while we waited outside. Oops, sorry guys.

Steven, Terry, Anne, me, Jen, & Troy

Then we got inside and realized it was cash only. I didn’t buy tickets online since we were planning to get there early. I happened to have cash (anniversary money from my parents, thanks!) but everyone else didn’t and I felt bad they had to use the ATM. Anyway, the more you know, if you go.

They had “characters” walking around spooking you while you paid and stood in line to start. They’d sneak up on you and get right in your face!

There was quite a bit of that at the start – people in your face, breathing right down your neck. It was annoying, especially when they did it for so long (one guy did it for what felt like a minute to me!).

But after that, we were in the maze that is the haunted house, and it was harder for the characters to do that because there was less open space, AND, they had advised us not to get separated, so we were holding hands in a big chain, and I think it made it harder for the characters to get between us, muah ha ha. So, more people DID make it less scary!

And it really was one big maze. We almost always knew where to go (Steven lead the way), but had NO idea where we were in the thing! We went through many themed areas – a circus, a derelict old house, a hospital, a butcher shop, you get the idea. It was really dark in there – we could hardly see at times, so the scary props weren’t too frightening, yay! I wasn’t scared by the characters (I just laughed at them!), but the air compressors and loud air horns/etc freaked me out, especially when they blew right on me.

Our favorite parts were the sensory type experiences – going through a tunnel that feels like it’s turning on itself, slanted floors, moving walls, soft floors, leaning over to get under big padding or walking through it, etc. There was even a “buried alive” experience!

I was impressed by the actors playing the different characters. They’d jump all over around the props in the rooms, and climb on rails on the walls (so you’d approach a hallway and there’d be one of the characters elevated on the wall, facing you, eek!). They seemed very energetic. We all wondered if they were able to stay that way all night (did they get breaks?), and if they lost their voices from their scripts (whether it was talking or screaming or screeching or whatever).

It was well done! Kind of steep pricing at $35 a person for “peak” weekend (it’s normally $30), but we were in there over an hour and all enjoyed it, and the adrenaline rush. And I never felt that scared! I just laughed and tried to be curious and enjoy it! They have a cheaper “blackout” event in November where you go through the whole thing with NO lights at all, and they give you one glow stick per group. Ha, no thanks!

So, regarding the blog title – I never peed my pants out of fear! Ha! Woo hoo! Success!

We got pizza and hung at our place after and played a little of Five Second Rule. And spent some time laughing at Steven’s pose in the group picture from the Dungeon of Doom. Ha ha ha.

It was a fun day and night with lots of laughs and joking around. And our two groups of friends (only the ladies had met previously) seemed to get along well!

SUNDAY!

We had pancakes and eggs Sunday morning, and hung out and chatted a bit before Anne and Terry took off, a bit after 10:00.

Then Steven and I were lazy AF the rest of the day. We took a nap, watched three movies (Pacific Rim Uprising, Ocean’s 8, and 7 Days in Entebbe), and did a few chores. It felt good to be so freaking lazy. I can’t remember the last time we sat around all day like that!

RANDOM CAT PICS!

Apollo and Starbuck hung out with us most of the weekend, and Khali even came out from under the bed a few times!

Running + Training

By kilax, October 21, 2018 6:30 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running on our newly paved road!

Monday | October 15, 2018: 4 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 46°/46°, Time: 38:33, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, annoyed by traffic though
Strength: kettlebells and cones, Felt: good, felt so great not to be a sweaty mess in the studio!
Tuesday | October 16, 2018: rest
Wednesday | October 17, 2018: migraine
Thursday | October 18, 2018: 3 m run + massage
Loc: hood, Temp: 29°/28°, Time: 29:46, Pace: 9:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Friday | October 19, 2018: teaching strength class + 882 yd swim + 7 m run
Strength: bands and body bars,  Felt: okay, kind of blah from my headache
Loc: FitNation, Time: 17:43, Pace: 2:01 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 53°/51°, Time: 1:09:33, Pace: 9:56 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Saturday | October 20, 2018: teaching strength class
Strength: kettlebells, core, and boxing, Felt: good
Sunday | October 21, 2018: rest

Notes:

• I usually stick to running counter-clockwise loops so I have left turns/less turns against traffic. On Monday I couldn’t do the right turn to get to a loop like that because of traffic, so I ran in counter-clockwise and it felt so different – it a mostly good way. Traffic was annoying the whole time though, and some lady made a big deal about stopping when I was running toward her (because another car was coming her way) then peeling out down the middle of the road when that car passed. Okay then.
• I love when it gets colder and I can start wearing vests and jackets with POCKETS! Love love love! It feels so nice not to carry my phone on my waist belt.
• The cooler weather means I get way less sweaty when I teach strength class. It’s amazing how much better that makes me feel while teaching (and after).
• I was excited to swim on Friday. I had more time because I wasn’t training after class, and I had just gotten a massage so I knew it would feel great. Then I got to the pool (literally – was about to get in the water) and my phone was blowing up because my friend left his phone in my car. Oops. I got out and drove the phone back to his house then went back to the pool, and had less than twenty minutes to get a swim in. UGH. Not his fault at all, but it made me realize how big of a pita it is for me to fit in a swim, with the very few open swim times. Fridays used to work well, but training someone after class eats up a lot of open swim time.
• It’s been so nice to run on the new shoulder on the road by our house!!! That’s 1.75 miles less that I don’t have to run on rocks. Aww yeah, baby.
• I usually don’t take two days off from running in a row, especially twice in one week! But I did in the middle in the week because I had a migraine, and over the weekend because we were busy with house guests, then I wanted to be totally lazy after they left! We have guests next weekend too, so that week will probably be light, as well.

Link to Training Week 469

Blogging, Health + Fitness, Life

By kilax, October 19, 2018 12:07 pm

So, the last time I did this, my crappy blog closed all the polls on its own. Now they are all miraculously open, somehow, also on their own. Sigh. (Yes, I am looking in to updating my blog.)

Anyway. So if the polls stop working, feel free to leave a comment. BECAUSE THIS STUFF IS OBVS WAY IMPORTANT.

not

In (my work) class this week, we were talking about how NO ONE still uses checks. But guess what?! I do! That’s how I give Steven extra money for our joint account when I get paid (because we use two separate banks so I don’t think I can transfer it easily electronically?), and that is how I pay for my massages. And usually how I give someone money if I owe them.

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We also talked about who still has a land line. Yeah, not me. Ha. Ha ha ha.

This one is from a conversation with Mom and Alyssa about walk-in bathtubs which I had NO idea were a thing. They were saying how it must be odd to have the water fill up around you, when using one. Um, is that not part of the fun of taking a bath?!

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I get in when there is a bit of water in it. If I don’t, I tend to make it the wrong temperature. (Although Steven pointed out, if you fill it up with yourself in it, you can make it too hot and not realize it, too.)

And finally…

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My swim pass expires on October 31st. Last year it cost $225 for the year, and I assume it will cost that or slightly more, for the next year.

A drop-in fee to use the pool is $6. Therefore, to make the pass “worth it,” I need to use it at least 38 times ($225/$6 = 37.5 visits). So far this year, I’ve gone 40 times, which means I’ve paid $5.63 for each visit.

So I use it enough, but man, the drop-in (“open swim”) hours are not very convenient! Friday morning open swim is 5:00 am – 7:30 am. I used to teach at 5:00, drive there, and be swimming by 6:20 am. Now I’m training someone at 6:00 am though (after I teach). So I’m rushing to get there and swim before open swim closes (who knows what they’d even do if I swam past then, ha).

And note – I swim for relaxation and exercise, not because I’m going to do a triathlon. I do feel it helps my body, but is it crucial… no? Would I miss it…? I don’t know. Ha.

Such deep thoughts for a Friday!!!

Life, Work + Design

By kilax, October 18, 2018 6:23 am

• Every soft skills course I take at work ends up being about personality types (Myers–Briggs, DISC, what have you) and generational differences, and how the other person isn’t going to change, so I need to adapt to THEM. I find that stuff interesting, but I’d like to dive a deeper than being told I need to change my communication style all the time for the other people. I did that, on my last detail, every single day, and yeah, it worked. But how do we help the other person, rather than adapt to their style all the time? I want to get more in to the nitty gritty.
• Our road is complete. Check out our new shoulder versus what it was before! It’s not super wide, but much nicer to run/bike on.

• Ugh, it seems like cold season is here! Lots of throat clearing and coughing and sneezing on the train this week. AHHH!!!
• When the Bath & Body Works closed in the train station I hoped they were just remodeling… but no, an Amazon Go is going in that spot. Sadness! Better for my wallet though. (This will be our second Amazon Go. I checked out the first one a few weeks ago.)

• What do you think of Thunderstruck‘s new home? He can hang there until I get another medal rack!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 199

Life, Travel

By kilax, October 17, 2018 6:06 am

On to the rest of the weekend!

SATURDAY!

Mom, Dad, and I hung out at bit after the race, but not for too long – we had to get ready for my cousin Danielle’s wedding! Luckily we had a late (1:00 pm) checkout, had plenty of time to get ready, hit up Taco Bell (the post race hunger kicked in!), and drive to the wedding in Amery, Wisconsin.

Mom rode with me for the hour and twenty minute drive to the wedding, which gave us a chance to catch up. We spent a bit of time driving near the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, and the views were stunning – more gorgeous trees, and some rock formations.

We drove by the Wisconsin Interstate State Park and saw people hiking along the road and it just KILLED me not to stop and explore it! UGH! So many nature-y things to do! So little time! The weekend felt packed!

The wedding was at 3:00 pm in a park in Amery. I love outdoor weddings. It was chilly (in the 30s?) but they had blankets out for the guests to use! What a great idea! I enjoyed the ceremony. They actually got married in a courthouse last December and made lots of jokes about this being their second wedding. It was cute, and humorous.

My brother and his wife drove my Grandma’s car up for the wedding

After the wedding, I beelined to the car to eat some leftover stale donuts. Ha! I just wanted to let you guys know that those donuts got some redemption and tasted better on Saturday, only because I still had the post race hungries.

Alyssa (my sister-in-law) and me. I took that hat off for the wedding, ha. 

The reception was about thirty minutes away at a Ski Lodge in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. My grandma (Dad’s mom) rode with me, and it was nice for us to have a chance to chat, just the two of us!

Twinning it up with our jean jackets!

At the reception, I immediately got drinks (Angry Orchards!) for myself, my older brother, and his wife. It was time to PAR-TAY! (i.e. time for Kim to act MORE obnoxious than usual)

They had the MOST AMAZING wedding food – a taco bar! Yes, puh-lease! We may or may not have asked our aunt to re-open the room to the food so we could get more tacos. Ha. No shame. (But we did feel those tacos out on the dance floor later, oops.)

So yeah, just your regular wedding – drinking, eating, dancing, being a bit inappropriate…

Aunt Tracy, me, and Alyssa

CW from top left: Mom, me, Danielle, Cousin Taylor, Second Cousin Jill, Aunt Sue, Alyssa, Grandma

Mom, me, Danielle, Andrew, Alyssa

It was a fun way to end a fun day. I enjoyed seeing and meeting a few of my cousin’s friends. One table was laughing SO loud and having the greatest time and my aunt told me those were her work friends. How fantastic! I love that my cousin gets to work with people like that!

My cousin made most of the decorations and they turned out fantastic! I was impressed.

And I loved seeing my family that was there. It’s not that often we get together, being so spread out, and so busy with our own lives.

We left the wedding around 9:00 and headed to our hotel in North Branch. My mom, brother, sister-in-law, and I spent some time in the hot tub then called it a night.

SUNDAY!

I really wanted to sleep longer on Sunday (meaning, more than 6.5 hours), but I had suggested to my dad that he bring his bike to ride with me while I ran, and he did, so I wanted to make sure we got out!

There ended up being a trail right by our hotel, schweet! We went out to it, and spent eight fun miles catching up. I say this every time I get to run with my dad, but I love that one-on-one time. I love hearing what he’s up to now, stories about the past, things he’s loving, his vents, and what’s new with other family members. What a treat!

I ate a little hotel breakfast with Mom and Dad, packed up, and we said goodbye! (Sad face) I hit the road at 10:00 am and it was snowing. What. Da. Fuq.

At first it was a light snow, melting when it hit the road, but then it started sticking a little bit. Sigh. It ended up snowing for the first two hours of my drive, and raining for the next hour. I was very tired. I stopped several times to help myself stay awake.

Snow accumulation on my car!

At my final rest stop, I wasn’t able to lock my car. It buzzed when I tried to, telling me the key was inside the car. I thought that was odd – it stays on a hook in my purse – how could it have fallen out? And when? I locked the car when I got out of it at previous stops!

I searched the car for about twenty minutes and didn’t find the key and was getting pissy.

Then I remembered – I had the key in my jacket pocket last night at the wedding. Did I ever take it out? Did I really lock the car earlier?

And that’s where it was. No, I never locked the car earlier when I stopped. Oops.

Gah, I’m so glad my car is smarter than me and doesn’t let me lock myself out. I’m also glad that little exercise woke me up. I was obviously very out of it to not remember where my key was!

I chose to re-route so I would not have to drive through Milwaukee to get home (otherwise it was all major highways from Minneapolis to Madison to Milwaukee). I knew the horrible construction and congestion in Milwaukee would make me nuts. I listened to podcasts the last three hours, and drove the last hour home on country roads.

Well, almost home. I stopped for groceries. I just wanted to be home with my babies, but knew I would regret not having produce later.

I picked up these cuties at Aldi

It was minutes before Apollo and Starbuck went after the birds

What a long (but fun!) weekend.

I was home for a bit putting things away and starting laundry when Steven arrived home from his trip (he was in Kansas City to celebrate his brother’s birthday). And after a small dinner, conversation, and taking the trash out, I was in bed by 10:00 for a much needed 8.5 hours of sleep!

I’ve been on the go since then – working all day Monday and teaching, then in the city yesterday for training. I’m ready for a quiet day!

Running + Training

By kilax, October 16, 2018 6:36 am

I enjoyed this race so much. It was a crisp fall day (36°), there was gorgeous foliage, the course went up and down over various terrain, and best of all, I got to run with Thunderstruck, my hobby horse.

Well, with Thunderstruck, (from L to R) Khaleesi, Starbuck, Apollo, and Data!

The Gear Western Country Half Marathon was in Long Lake (west of Minneapolis), Minnesota on Saturday the 13th. It started and finished at the Gear West Ski and Run store. This race was not on my radar, but Mom suggested I run it before my cousin’s wedding (somewhat nearby) that night. When we looked in to the race more, and saw they had a hobby horse division, we could NOT stop laughing about how funny that was. And we immediately signed me up and started designing my horse.

An early sketch

Mom and Dad, and I drove up to Minneapolis separately on Friday and stayed nearby in Plymouth. The race was easy to get to, and parking was easy to find. We waited in the store before the race started, which was great, since it was chilly and windy.

I was excited on race morning to see all the other hobby horses. But when I got there, I was the only one. A few more showed up, but THERE WERE ONLY THREE OTHER HOBBY HORSES IN THE HALF. THREE. A total of four. There were a few others doing the 5K.

I thought it was so funny that there were so few of us. They had two hobby horse runners in the half last year, so this was a 200% increase, which they were excited about. Here I thought there would be at least twenty of us! (No idea where I came up with that number! It looks like 213 people ran the half, overall.)

They had the hobby horse runners start in the front (8:30 am start), over to the side (I wanted to make sure I was NOT in people’s way with my dowel!). There was one man, with a BoJack Horseman, horse, a lady with a colorful cardboard horse, a lady with a “sock monkey” style horse, and me. The ladies and I chatted that while we were supposed to run with it between our legs, we thought side saddle would be better. Although the one with the sock monkey horse had a “cheater strap” (that is what she called it) hanging down her back for hers to rest on. She ended up running the whole race with it there (and said it felt awkward).

I did gallop with it between my legs like I was supposed to at the start. But after that, I moved it to my side and kept it out of people’s way. The wind immediately made Thunderstruck’s neck bend in half. Poor guy, his neck is STILL sore!

The course went through a lot of quiet residential country roads, and on some paved and crushed limestone trail. And it went up and down and up and down. The hills kept it interesting! The long stretch (3.6 miles) on crushed limestone felt odd because it was flat for so long. (That part had the one tiny out and back of the course and I got lots of comments on Thunderstruck then. And many others throughout the race. Also, I wish I had my gaiters for that part – I ended up with lots of rocks in my shoes!)

I thought about not bringing a water bottle since I was going to be holding Thunderstruck in my other hand, but I’m glad I did. I drank it all and filled it up twice on the course. I would have loved to take photos of the pretty route and trees, but the one photo I took was tricky enough. Taking gels was tricky too. I somehow finished the race with gel remnants on my face – I think from holding the gel packet in my mouth to eat it, instead of my hand. Other than that, holding Thunderstruck was fine (except for when the wind picked him up.)

Mom and Dad saw me twice on the course which was an awesome surprise! The course map wasn’t very clear (for non-locals) and they couldn’t track me (Glympse wasn’t working, or maybe their phones weren’t), so it was awesome they saw me the two times they tried to!

I wanted to run easy and average 10:00 minute miles. The downhills helped with that – I finished in 2:10:40, with an average pace of 9:59. My miles were consistent, except for the last water stop. I put Thunderstruck between my legs for the last tenth of a mile but forgot to gallop! Oops!

The post race party had pancakes, hot dogs, and corn on the cob! And a few cookies and bars. I was cold and just wanted something hot to drink. My post race hunger didn’t kick in until later.

Awards started right when I finished. I would have been second in the hobby horse division, ha (but obviously no where near that in my age group!). There were also spirit awards, where everyone who “dressed up” got a prize, but I missed those because I was still running. But they gave me that pink cowgirl hat when I finished!

I was smiling the whole time I did this race. The weather was beautiful, the course was challenging in a good way, and it felt great to run. The race was well organized, I love the medal and race “shirt,” and the post race party was fun. I would love to do this race again, especially with friends.

And I loved having Mom and Dad there, cheering me on! I’m glad Mom found this race and signed me up!

Life, Recipes + Food, Travel

By kilax, October 15, 2018 12:17 pm

This got too long so I am breaking my weekend recap in to two posts!

FRIDAY!

Ugh, Friday was surprisingly hectic. My original plan was to teach and train (one on one), then swim, then run, then take a nap (because I get up at 3:50 on Fridays), then drive to Minneapolis, and go to packet pickup, then the hotel.

That plan got scratched. Apollo woke me up at 3:00, and I was worried if I took a nap I’d never recover, so I taught and trained, went home and packed quick, then hit the road. I figured I’d have loads of time in Minneapolis to do a shakeout run, chill, and even nap.

No.

The drive was mostly okay (although at one point the forecast showed snow and I felt worried because the last time I drove in it I crashed my car). Milwaukee is a COMPLETE clusterf*ck right now and I felt bad for the few times Steven’s had to drive through it the past two weeks. After I got through there, it was smooth sailing with miles and miles of gorgeous fall foliage.

Sample rest stop tree

I got really tired for the last two hours though. I stopped a few times, cranked the music, made it really cold, ate some snacks. Blah.

When I got to Minneapolis, I made an unplanned stop at The Herbivorous Butcher, per Steven’s suggestion. It’s an all vegan deli, with all sorts of vegan fake meats (that look like real deli meats),  cheeses, and other things. I ordered the Italian Cold Cut (they only have five things on the menu – seems they really wanted it treated as a deli). It was delicious, BUT WAY TOO BIG WHAT WAS I THINKING, and I could totally taste it on my run later. Oops.

The I Like You store (crafts from local Minnesotan artists) was next door and I had to stop in. They had a huge card collection and I wanted to spend ALL the time reading ALL the cards (and buying a zillion of them) but I didn’t.

I went to packet pickup after. I had a dumb Google Maps snafu that added some extra time, then when I got there, they said I wasn’t registered for the half marathon but for the 5K, and they were all out of my size of socks. Oops! They fixed it and got me signed up for the half, and gave me the wrong size of socks, and the flannel race shirt, which I opted out of (hobby horse registrants paid a discounted fee, and got socks, not the race flannel, but could choose to pay extra for it). That was nice of them to give to me when they didn’t have to do anything extra.

And BONUS! That flannel is a soft fleece material and amazingly cozy, comfortable, and warm, so I will  be wearing it every day until March.

I finally got to the hotel way later than I thought I would, and looked (on a map) for someplace to do a three mile shakeout run. After wasting time looking for a pretty route, I just ran from the hotel, which was quite pretty.

Then I hopped in my car to go on a special mission to pick up a Starbucks Minnesota “Been There” mug for Gina. She wanted to get one when she was in Minnesota in June, but I think they told her they didn’t have them yet? Anyway, success!

While I was out, my car buzzed that I was low on gas. Crap. I totally had forgotten to get some. And I only had my license and phone with me. I wondered if a gas station would take Apple Pay, but decided to go back to the hotel, get my purse, then go to the closest gas station… which did appear to take Apple Pay. Sigh.

Then I rushed to take a shower before my parents arrived, and changed hotel rooms (from a loud first floor room right next to the lobby/entrance to a room on the third floor). So much for R&R!!!

My parents arrived around 7:15 and we left right away to get food. I’d been dreaming about Pizza Luce  since I booked this trip, but was too full from my sandwich to go there. Sad face. I was NOT too full to try some vegan donuts, so we picked a restaurant closer to Glam Doll Donuts, and ended up at Christos, a Greek restaurant (my falafel was good but the tabbouleh had too much mint for my taste).

I almost forgot to look for vegan donuts on this trip. I’m not very dedicated to my Vegan Donut Tour, am I? Luckily, I did remember on Thursday before I left and found Glam Doll Donuts. And I saw they were open until 1:00 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, and figured that meant I didn’t have to worry about them running out of vegan donuts – they probably keep making fresh donuts all day… right?!

So we got there and I was super excited to see one case (of three) with TEN different vegan donuts to try! TEN!

I commented on how they didn’t have the “Vegan Marvelous Maiden” available (a sweet potato filling one I’d seen on their Instagram) and they brought one out for me! So here is what I got to try, clockwise from top left:

Vegan Gidget (Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut), Vegan Night Moves (Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits), Vegan Chocolate Starlet (Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles), Vegan Femme Fatale (Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing), and Vegan Marvelous Maiden (Sweet Potato Filling).

I also asked for the Vegan Pin-Up Girl (Bourbon-Infused Apple Fritter), but my parents got a regular apple fritter, and I think there was a bit of confusion and I didn’t get one (not a big deal).

I was SO excited to try these because they were mostly yeast donuts and those are my favorite type. I was especially excited about the raspberry one.

We got back to the hotel and I took a small bite of the sweet potato one and liked it. Then every other one tasted stale and blah to me. What a disappointment! I wrongly assumed they’d be fresher since they were open late. They were not. Maybe the sweet potato one was the freshest? The flavor of the raspberry and Hennesy ones were decent, but I really didn’t like the cake donut or the buttercream long john. Oh well! Fun to try!

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio	5/12/18	Brewnuts	Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter
Minnesota	10/13/18	Glam Doll Donuts	Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut, Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits, Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles, Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing, Sweet Potato Filling.

At that point it was 10:00 pm. And my mom was beginning to work on my hobby horse for the race (she signed me up as a birthday present, and offered to make my horse). She had the outline done, but still had to finish drawing it, color it in, and attached it to the dowel. It was kind of a long night! And we still had to finish attaching it in the morning! But it turned out fantastic and I can’t wait to show you… tomorrow!

Running + Training

By kilax, October 15, 2018 6:18 am

Highlight of the Week: Running a half marathon with a hobby horse, and running with Dad!

Monday | October 8, 2018: 4 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 82°/82°, Time: 41:40, Pace: 10:25 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good (given the temp and my poor weekend diet!)
Strength: kettlebells and cones, Felt: good
Tuesday | October 9, 2018: 15 m ride + 7 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 1:00:13, Pace: 14.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: xx°/xx°, Time: 1:10:10, Pace: 10:01 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good, again, with the heat
Wednesday | October 10, 2018: rest
Thursday | October 11, 2018: 3 m walk
Friday | October 12, 2018: teaching strength class + 3 m run
Strength: kettlebells and cones Felt: fine
Loc: Plymouth, MN, Temp: 46°/45°, Time: 30:20, Pace: 10:06, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, chilly, regretted that sandwich
Saturday | October 13, 2018: Gear Western Half Marathon
Loc: Long Lake, MN, Temp: 36°/42°, Time: 2:10:40, Pace: 9:59 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good!
Sunday | October 14, 2018: 8 m run
Loc: North Bran, Temp: 35°/34°, Time: 1:21:47, Pace: 10:13 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good, tired at the end

Notes:

• We had high temps (low 80s, high 70s) back for Monday and Tuesday’s runs. And they surprisingly weren’t horrible! I’m glad we didn’t have that weather a day earlier, on Chicago Marathon day. Their overcast rainy day looked decent (to me!) for running. My last two marathon PRs have been in that kind of weather.
• I kind of forgot that I was running a half marathon on Saturday, when I was thinking ahead about my workouts for the week (I figured I’d do my normal six days of running). I remembered by Thursday and swapped my run for a walk, and did a somewhat easier strength workout Friday morning.
• I didn’t make time to go to the pool Friday morning, so I could hit the road to Minneapolis instead.
• My runs in Minnesota were my coldest of the fall season, for sure. And they felt great! But I was freezing after each of them. At home I’d jump in to a hot bath to warm up. A hotel shower just doesn’t have the same effect.
• The half marathon was so fun, and I loved the hilly course! I can’t wait to write about it later this week.
• I got to run with my Dad on Sunday! Yay! (I was with my parents because we were at a family wedding Saturday night, more on that later today?)
• I think last week was my ninth year of tracking my workouts here. Nutso!

Link to Training Week 468

Books, Life

By kilax, October 11, 2018 6:01 am

• Jen and I saw A Star Is Born Tuesday night. We both loved it! I thought the acting (and singing!) was great. I didn’t know much about the story going in, so if you’re familiar with it, you probably know what that means. Vague much? (Don’t want to spoil it!)
• I finally finished reading The Ensemble, and liked it! (My slow reading was due to being too tired to read before bed, not from lack of enjoyment.) The Ensemble told the story of a string quartet from the time they formed the group, up to twenty years later. The book focused on family relationships – theirs as a family to each other, their families from childhood, and the families they formed as adults. It was very relatable, and the only annoying part was the often used musical metaphors. But it’s about music, so what did I expect?! Now I am reading a mystery/thriller my coworker recommended – Give Me Your Hand (which I like, except the main character works in a lab and they mention testing on animals). That coworker just finished reading Aurora, on my recommendation!

• I was going to tell you guys about something that’s bothering me, but I forgot what it is, so that’s good, right? (I could fill this spot with complaining about my doctor wanting me to pay for an extra test they had to do because they screwed up the first one, but, eh. I’m still not sure what the outcome of that is, so I’ll save it for later.)
• We got our TSA Pre✓ Known Traveler Numbers within four days, like Shelley did. I applied the numbers to all our upcoming flights, so we’ll see if that works! Also, I realized when doing this, that ANYONE I send my flight email to, with the “edit traveler info” link in, can, well, edit my info. I usually just send it to whomever I am traveling to see, so while I doubt they would edit things, it’s probably not a good idea for me to share that link, in practice.
• Here’s a random Apollo picture for you. He decided it would be a good idea to lick and chew on my hair that day.

• I’ve been running weekly construction meetings (sigh), and realized I do something obnoxious – I say a statement, then a person’s name to confirm what I said was true. Like, “Since xyz happened, we’re on schedule, right, Bob?” But what if that person wasn’t 100% listening? I think it would be better for me to say, “Bob, since xyz happened, we’re on schedule, correct?” Then they know I am addressing them. I’m gonna work on doing it that way.
• And one more random cute cats pic:

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 198

Life

By kilax, October 10, 2018 7:01 am

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about these things before. I have failed you guys!

I was thinking about the things making us laugh this weekend and I have to share two of them. Maybe you can relate to our VERY childish sense of humor? (it’s not just me!)

Mica sent us this hilarious postcard in November 2016. It has an image of a Victorian lady with a strategically cut hole, and you bend your index finger and place it just so to make it look like a butt. Class-ay.

Instructions:

Before:

After:

Steven and I got SO. MUCH. ENTERTAINMENT. out of this postcard. Our favorite thing to do was “surprise” the other person by getting it ready, then saying “have you seen this?” or “did you see what came in the mail?” And nine times out of ten, they’d be surprised to see the butt, and laugh.

Eventually, this card got placed in the back of a stack of cards (I know, for shame), but I resurrected it when I went through all my cards in August, so we’ve been pranking each other again.

We showed it to Gina and Steve this weekend, and they thought it was hilarious. Now we can prank them by texting them pictures of it. If only I had the postcard book itself to send to my friends in the mail…

And, the other thing.

We have a rule in our house, if you fart and you aren’t in the bathroom, you owe a quarter. Only, we’ve never actually paid up. So it’s mostly just an opportunity to yell “quarter!” when someone farts.

The ground rules:

• The minimum charge is twenty-five cents, no less
• If it’s really bad, it’s fifty cents, or a dollar (you know, if it sounds like the person ripped a hole in their pants or whatever they’re sitting on)
• If you laugh when you get charged, you get charged more (and more and more if you keep laughing)

Yes, we run a very mature household.

I shared this rule with Gina and Steve in April because I had a funny story that happened at their house that I couldn’t keep to myself. I was in the bathroom, getting ready for the day, and I had Steven on speaker phone, and didn’t even think about it, and farted (you know, cause I was in the bathroom!) and he goes “Did you just fart?!” and I said “I’m in the bathroom! I’m in the bathroom!!!” and he yells “QUARTER!!!” Ha ha ha. Guess you had to be there. Or maybe not.

So I told them about it then, and it came up again during our river trip because someone was a little gas machine (Luca!), and again, on this trip. So while no adult got yelled “QUARTER!” at, there was lots of pretend quarter yelling, and some not-pretend quarter yelling to Luca. Again, so mature. I’m so glad we can pass this on to Luca. Ha!